Bane
Bane was the friend, accomplice, and protector of Talia al Ghul, and the secondary antagonist of The Dark Knight Rises. Described as a physically-imposing militant revolutionary associated with the League of Shadows presenting himself as a "liberator of pain", who rose to dominant power in the terrorist society by defeating the batman in combat whilst in the service of businessman John Daggett and ripping Gotham City from the outside world and intending to finish Ra's al Ghul's plan to destroy it but the mercenary was defeated by a recovered batman and soon after killed by Selina Kyle. Potent in both physical combat and strategic planning, Bane was also an articulate orator and effective military commander. He displayed his personality predominantly through expressions in his eyes. His physique was defined by his mask which inhibited the excruciating pain that agonized his body to bearable levels which is also a weakness if damaged the pain will be unleashed. Biography Origin and Early Life Bane was born in an ancient hellish prison out in the Middle East known as the Pit in the 1960s, Bane came to regard the place as a home, where he learned "the truth about despair". Though he vaguely claimed to have been "born in darkness" and molded by it and that he didn't "see the light" until he was an adult. At some point, he took an interest in the wellbeing of a young female prisoner named Talia al Ghul, the daughter of another female prisoner who he grew to love, whose father was a local warlord, and a mercenary, protecting her when several of the inmates attacked and killed Talia's mother. He became her guardian and later helped her escape from the Pit. However, this selfless action resulted in the prisoners' exacting revenge by torturing and beating Bane to the point that his face was mutilated and wrapped up in bandages after the doctor did what he could to save him. His fumbling attempts to repair the damage, unfortunately, left Bane in constant agony. Bane was eventually rescued from the prisoners and the Pit by Talia's father, the mercenary who became Ra's al Ghul, and the vigilante society he joined in his absence, the League of Shadows when Talia informed her father of what happened and brought him back to the Pit to exact his vengeance. Supplying Bane with a respiratory mask that pumped gas into his system to alleviate the pain from his injury within the prison, the League took him and Talia in and trained them, but Bane was later excommunicated for reminding Ra's of his own failure to protect his wife and for his interest in Talia; Alfred interpreted the rumor of Bane's expulsion from his sources that Bane was expelled for being too extreme for the organization. However, he eventually rejoined the League after Ra's died and Talia inherited her father's organization and forgave him for ousting Bane who at that point had became a mercenary and wanted by the Central Intelligence Agency. Bane was also responsible for a coup in West Africa which brought John Daggett exclusive access to the resources there, which brought his company into prominence. Their working relationship was later exploited to bring Bane and his mercenaries to Gotham City. ''The Dark Knight Rises Kidnapping Dr. Pavel Seven and a half years after the death of Harvey Dent, mercenaries posing as a local militia turned over Russian scientist Dr. Leonid Pavel and three other hooded prisoners, including Bane, to the CIA in Uzbekistan while Talia went into Gotham posing as Miranda Tate a wealthy businesswoman. Bane's plan was to find out how much Pavel had told the CIA about them and to fake the scientist's death while on board their flight and then crash the plane with no survivors. To that end, a plane full of mercenaries tailed the CIA plane whilst airborne. When the CIA operative overseeing the capture attempted to interrogate his men by pretending to shoot them and throw them out of the plane, Bane pointed out that their attempts wouldn't work because the hooded men had no reason to give in when the CIA operative was only putting on a show. Bane also told the CIA personnel his plan as the agent removed Bane's hood, knowing that they would not survive the attack, and broke free of the restraints just as more of the mercenaries arrived from the other plane and shot the CIA personnel. In addition, the mercenaries also brought in a cadaver to transfer Pavel's blood to fake the latter's death. Bane also had one of his "brother" mercenaries stay behind in order to ensure they had the expected death toll and he also promised the mercenary that "the fire rises". He told the panicking Pavel to calm down as the mission was successfully accomplished. Partnership with Daggett After the arrival of Bane and the mercenaries in Gotham, he had several henchmen commence "construction projects" that were actually rigging explosives across Gotham via "explosive cement." Daggett worked with Bane to have Bruce Wayne removed from Wayne Enterprises by bankrupting Wayne and weakening the company's (poor) finances even further, under the false impression that he would take over the company. To that end, Selina Kyle was recruited and she retrieved Wayne's fingerprints, including his thumbprint, for them to use to accomplish the financial fraud. Gordon's Capture However, due to a phone sting regarding the location of a missing congressman, some police officers, including Commissioner Jim Gordon ended up stumbling upon Bane's group in the sewers, the new League of Shadow's hideout. Bane likewise executed one of the henchmen delivering Gordon to him for drawing him to the place, before having the other shoot Gordon. He also retrieved Gordon's speech that was intended to expose the truth behind the events of Dent's death and give his resignation as Commissioner. When Gordon ended up going down the rapid sewer waters to escape, Bane had a henchman "follow" him by placing a cell phone on him and then sending him down the rapids, anticipating the likelihood that Gordon would survive falling into the rapids after the henchman made the mistake of implying that he died in the rapids. Attack on the Stock Market Afterward, Bane arrived at the Gotham Stock Exchange to complete the plan of putting Bruce Wayne into bankruptcy and placed a cement truck in the way manned by a henchman. He also took hostages in order to ensure that the police did not try to attack them. Bane on a motorcycle very briefly crossed paths with Batman on the Batpod who was in pursuit. After Selina attempted to find the clean slate drive at Daggett's penthouse only to find the safe empty, Bane and the mercenaries arrived to secure the area. Once Bane's true objective of Miranda Tate (Talia) taking over Wayne Enterprises was accomplished, Daggett furiously confronted Bane. The then expendable Daggett was then killed by him, and his body was put into a dumpster. Breaking the Batman Bane arranged for Selina Kyle to trick Batman into the sewers in exchange for survival insurance. Confronting the Dark Knight, and revealing that he knew the latter's true identity, confronted Batman in a brutal fight. Despite Batman's best efforts, Bane managed to easily overpower Batman, due to his mask which made him impervious to pain as well as his earlier training in the League of Shadows. Bane then revealed that they were under Wayne Enterprises's secret armory and his plan to use the equipment to "bring justice". Bane then countered Batman's last attack and broke Batman's back. He delivered a crippled Bruce Wayne to the Pit prison he himself was formerly imprisoned in and stated that he wouldn't kill a man that did not fear death, as he intended to psychologically torture him with the slow demise of Gotham City with Bruce being unable to do a thing. Bane said that when Gotham becomes ashes, then Bruce would have his permission to die. Taking Control of Gotham Afterward, Bane went to the Wayne Enterprises board room where he brought Miranda, Lucius Fox, and Douglas Fredericks from there to the Wayne Enterprises fusion reactor bunker and had Pavel modify the reactor into a nuclear bomb and he had the core removed so that it also became a time bomb. In addition, he also had the police lured to the hideout to be trapped, and eventually detonated the explosives laced around the city, killing hundreds of people, including Mayor Anthony Garcia. Anticipating that Gordon was still recovering at the hospital, he also sent two of his men to kill Gordon, although Gordon managed to kill them before either of them could lay a finger on him. He then brought the bomb out to the entire public, and after having Pavel explain its properties, he killed him in front of everyone. Bane said that he had given the detonator to a citizen who would push the button if they didn't comply with his rules. In addition, in order to further ensure that no one outside of Gotham attempted to interfere, he also had Barsad inform the national guard that if they were to enter the city, the bomb would be detonated. Ruling Over Gotham After Bane returned to Gotham, he traveled with his men to Blackgate Prison. There he read Gordon's planned confession and undermined the validity of the Dent act as well as of Dent's heroic persona in front of the citizens of Gotham. Bane then ordered his men to storm the prison and "liberate" the prisoners, who were incarcerated under the "corrupt" laws of Gotham's elite. Bane declared martial law and proclaimed that the city now belonged to the people, handing them the power of "justice" over the "corrupt" Gotham elite that had "enslaved" them. Bane's speech subsequently caused a series of riots led by Gotham's criminals and revolutionary working class members, who raided the homes of the wealthy and set-up a court presided by "Judge" Jonathan Crane, where the rich were sentenced to choose between either death or exile through the crossing of a deadly frozen river. Bane himself continued to await the bomb's detonation while he observed Gotham's self-destruction. Batman's Return and Death After Batman's return to Gotham City became apparent, he had some mercenaries stay close to Miranda at Gotham City Hall, anticipating that Batman would eventually come to rescue her. Soon after, his mercenaries entered a massive battle with the recently freed Gotham City Police and Bane himself entered the fray, ruthlessly killing any opponents who stood in his way, going straight for Batman. When the two of them finally met in the middle of the war-zone, Bane and Batman briefly exchanged words. Bane sneered at Batman that his efforts to stop Bane would still be futile, as Gotham would fall with or without Bruce Wayne. Batman calmly responded that he would stop Bane, whatever the cost. The conversation over, the two men engaged in a climactic fight. The fight was interrupted constantly by Bane's men and Gotham police, each of which was either pushed aside by Batman or killed by Bane. Batman manages to survive several crippling attacks from the masked mercenary, and Bane quickly gains the upper hand. However, this time Batman fought more patiently and based on his knowledge of Bane's weakness he struck Bane's mask repeatedly and damaged it and caused Bane agonizing pain. During the fight, both opponents became different in style and composure: Bane grew precautious, angry, vicious and imprecise, whilst Batman remained fearless, patient, confident and stuck completely to his aim of destroying the mask. After the mask was punctured, Bane was then put into a mindless fury of rage, confusion, and horror, and attacked Batman furiously, showering the caped crusader in punches that were powerful enough to shatter stone. His sanity lost, Bane came close to defeating the Caped Crusader, but became desperate and Batman managed to defeat him in combat, demolishing the mask and smashing the mercenary through the front door of Wayne Enterprises, where Miranda Tate was being held, hostage. Batman subdues Miranda's executioner and angrily questions Bane. During Batman's interrogation of Bane regarding the location of the trigger to the bomb, Batman reveals he is convinced that Bane is the child that escaped the Pit. Confused and obliterated, Bane explains that he never escaped the Pit (But doesn't explain that he was rescued). Batman expresses his confusion, thinking that Bane was Ra's al Ghul's child, seconds before Miranda stabbed Batman and revealed herself in the lobby of city hall as Talia. Talia explained her and Bane's past as she fixed Bane's mask and taunted Batman about the bomb's imminent explosion and his failure to save Gotham. Due to her trigger's signal being blocked by Gordon, she left Bane to guard Batman so that Batman would survive long enough to see the bomb go off while she commanded the truck containing the nuclear time bomb. A vengeful Bane, however, ignored Talia's wishes and decided to kill Batman himself with a shotgun but was shot at point-blank range and finally killed by Selina Kyle with the Batpod's cannon before he could execute Batman, sending his lifeless body flying through the air. Relationships *Batman - Enemy. *Talia al Ghul - Best friend and sweetheart. *Ra's al Ghul - Mentor. *Jim Gordon - Enemy *John Blake - Enemy *Selina Kyle/Catwoman - Enemy, fellow Daggett employee *John Daggett - Former Ally Personality Bane was an emotionless and cynical survivor. Life in the Pit seems to have emptied the man of his pity and his concept of mercy, to the point of not caring who he hurts, kills or terrorizes. Bane described that he was born in and molded by the dark: "I didn't see the light until I was already a man. By then, it was nothing to me but BLINDING!". He was quite enigmatic and perceptive, seeming to know masterfully how people think and operate. Bane was shown to be quite charismatic and independent. He was a skilled leader, able to take charge of the League of Shadows after Ra's al Ghul. He was also extremely ruthless - he was completely capable of committing cold-blooded murder on his enemies, and even his allies if they either displeased him, were no longer of use to him, or more prominently when he had planned to kill them in order to advance his goals. Bane's ruthlessness was so great that when Batman first fought Bane, and it appeared Bane had the disadvantage, the nearby mercenaries working for Bane remained completely still, out of fear of Bane. Bane was supremely self-confident and strong-willed, confident enough to fight against Batman and easily beat him, to such an extent that he would severely risk his own personal safety in combat situations - he outright allowed Batman to plunge them into darkness, before serenely stating that the darkness was ineffective to him, as he had been born and shaped ''by darkness. He was also incredibly self-controlled and was never angry throughout the film, even when Batman defeated him, though Bane showed complete incredulity that the man had been broken and survived. Even in extreme pain, or faced with a triumphant opponent or unsuccessful subordinate, Bane would face the situation calmly, throughout. He was also exceptionally intelligent, cunning, resourceful, and a skilled tactician. A prominent display of his psychopathic character is the fact that, in spite of his despicable actions and behavior, he behaved quite like the stereotypical English gentleman, intimidating even his enemies with his politeness and civil behavior. He did not underestimate his opponents, especially Batman. Bane was also a brilliant spokesman and gave fantastic speeches throughout the film. Abilities Bane is shown to be an extremely skilled warrior in the Pit before he was being trained by the League of Shadows. During his fights with Batman, his abilities honed over the years are shown. He uses his brute strength and ferocity to gain an advantage over his opponents. Bane's style is extremely brutal - He can snap necks and crush windpipes with ease, and also kill a man with a single blow with raw physical power. He can think and act quickly at the moment for whatever the situation may require. Bane is extremely strong, shown by the fact that he can create craters in concrete pillars with a single punch. Bane also has a mask that holds the pain from his injuries at bay and anesthetic gas is pumped through pipes into his body. The anesthetic gas also provides no feeling of pain; for when he is hit by Batman he displays no pain reception. However, his mask is also a weakness if it's damaged as the pain is unleashed. Appearance and Clothing Extremely tall, over the same height as Batman, dressed in a weather-beaten utilized suit consisting of a brown trench coat with black combat pants and boots. Underneath it, he wears a military vest External links * Category:Characters Category:Villains Category:Deceased Category:Males Category:The Dark Knight Rises Characters Category:League of Shadows